Dinah, ClinkShrink, & Roy produce Shrink Rap: a blog by Psychiatrists for Psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen.
All patient vignettes are confabulated; the psychiatrists, however, are mostly real.
--Topics include psychotherapy, humor, depression, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, medications, ethics, psychopharmacology, forensic and correctional psychiatry, psychology, mental health, chocolate, and emotional support ducks. Don't ask. (It's not Shrink Wrap.)

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

What do you do when your shrink's away and you've got a crisis? Wait? Call coverage? A group of New Yorkers have set up their own speed shrinking networking service in bookstores and taverns.From The NY Times, August 31, 2009, Vincent Mallozzi writes "Answers to Life's Worries, in 3 minutes Bursts."

Instead, Ms. Tang went to talk about her fears with a panel of eight psychiatrists and psychologists offering three-minute sessions of what was billed as “speed shrinking” to those whose regular therapists were on vacation or to anyone else needing a very fast dose of advice.

“At first glance, this appears to be a funny, lighthearted thing,” said one of the therapists, Jonathan Fast, who is also a professor at Yeshiva University. “But what I have discovered is that these brief conversations absolutely turn into real therapy. You start with the classic ‘What can I help you with?’ and make a really fast assessment.”

So this is not what I do. I have no super-rapid diagnostic skills and no magical wisdom worth imparting in 3 minutes. I thought they invented grandmothers for this stuff. And Mr. Mallozzi makes therapy sound a little too trite and a little too self-consumed for my liking. Psychiatrists are good at diagnosing and treating psychiatric illnesses, and some are good at psychotherapy. I don't think this conveys any level of expertise for life-decision advise for strangers. Ah, but this wasn't really one we'd pass by on Shrink Rap.

Can you really find out in three minutes if you have a rapport with a new therapist? I think that's a stretch. I think Speed Shrinking is even scarier than Speed Dating. At least with Speed Dating, a glass of wine and a few laughs are possible.